Police probed Bedford link to Armada case

This photo provided by the Millsap family via Michigan State Police on Sunday, July 27, 2014 shows April Millsap, 14, of Armada, Mich., whose body was found in a drainage ditch near a trail in southeastern Michigan on July 24. (AP Photo/Millsap family photo via Michigan State Police)

Hayley Turner (Courtesy photo)

State police investigators working on the kidnapping and murder of an Armada teenager three weeks ago initially became interested in the Bedford Township case to see if the two incidents could be related.

Michigan State Police First Lt. Tony Cuevas, commander of the Monroe post, said it was quickly determined that there was no connection between the two cases.

“Our people were very interested in the Bedford Township case because there could have been possible similarities in Ar­mada,” Lt. Cuevas said. “At first it was a similar type of crime.”

Lt. Cuevas said once it was determined that Hayley’s story was not adding up, the analysts in the Armada investigation backed off trying to determine if they were related.

“It was a waste of time,” he said.

That was far from being the only waste of investigative resources, police said. Lt. Cuevas said three troopers from the Monroe post assisted in the investigation and five from the Monroe Area Narcotics Team & Investigative Services (MANTIS) assisted the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the lead agency.

He said those resources, which included a lieutenant, could have been used in any number of more productive ways, espe­cially with staff reductions over the years. But, he added, the Turner case had to be treated as legitimate, especially since the Millsap homicide is still active and unsolved.

“You have to take them seriously,” Lt. Cuevas said. “ We can’t assume it’s false.”

In addition to the sheriff ’s office — which also dispatched a helicopter — and the state police, the Monroe Police Department assigned three detectives to assist for at least eight hours during the investigation. Chief Tom Moore said the allegations were so serious, that increased manpower was a necessity.

“Everyone was worried, everyone was upset and everyone was concerned,” Chief Moore said. “ We had to take it seriously.”

After it was determined the story was a hoax, Chief Moore said he was angry.

“She put people at risk,” he said. “A lot of people spent their time and effort working on that case. People, to a certain extent, risked their lives out there.”

On Monday, police from Ecorse, a Detroit suburb, held a press conference to announce that its department would like to see Miss Turner punished criminally. She was found in Ecorse, about 50 miles from Temperance, at the end of her 16- hour odyssey.

Lt. Greg Blade said at a news conference that the agency will be asking the Wayne County Prosecu-tor’s Office to issue charges that could include filing a false police report. He said that Miss Turner was carrying a puppy that she said was given to her during her ordeal.

Lt. Blade also told reporters that the young woman had what appeared to be self- inflicted cuts and that her story did not make sense.

“I didn’t think the young lady was being very truthful,” Lt. Blade said at the press conference. “A lot of her story didn’t add up.”

Investigators have not revealed why Miss Turner made up the abduction story. The Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office, which will determine if local charges are to be filed against Miss Turner, has not received a police report yet. Monroe County Sheriff Dale Malone declined to comment.

But Lt. Cuevas and Chief Moore agreed with Ecorse police that Miss Turner should face consequences for lying to police and wasting the time of scores of officers and federal investigators from various agencies in different cities.

“She should be held accountable,” Chief Moore said.

“Anyone who lies to police should face some type of penalty,” Lt. Cuevas added.

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